Zheng Yi (pirate)
- Zheng Yingshi (son)
- Zheng Xiongshi (son)
Zheng Qi (cousin)
Cheung Po Tsai (adopted son)
Zheng Yilang
Zheng Yi | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese name | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 鄭一 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 郑一 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Zheng the First | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Zheng Wenxian | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 鄭文顯 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 郑文显 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Youyi (courtesy name) | |||||||||||||
Chinese | 耀一 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Zheng Yilang | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 鄭一郎 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 郑一郎 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Zheng's First Son | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||
Vietnamese | Trịnh Nhất | ||||||||||||
Zheng Yi (also romanised as Cheng Yud or Cheng I ; born Zheng Wenxian, courtesy name Youyi; 1765 – 16 November 1807)[1] was a powerful Chinese pirate operating from Guangdong and throughout the South China Sea in the late 1700s.
History
He was born Zheng Wenxian in 1765 in Xin'an County, Guangdong, Qing China. His family, including his father Zheng Lianchang and his younger brother Zheng San had been pirates for generations, he and other pirates were recruited as mercenaries by Tây Sơn dynasty up until 1801. In the year of about 1798, Zheng Yi kidnapped Cheung Po (simplified Chinese: 张保; traditional Chinese: 張保; pinyin: zhāng bǎo), a 15-year-old son of a Tankan fisherman and pressed him into piracy.[2] Cheung Po's natural talent helped him adapt well to his unplanned new career, and he rose swiftly through the ranks.
In 1801, the nefarious intrigues of the 26 year old Cantonese floating brothel madame or prostitute known as Shi Xianggu (Chinese: 石香姑; Jyutping: sek6 hoeng1 gu1), known for her shrewd business savvy and trade in secrets through the pillow talk of her wealthy and political clientele, caught his attention. Either he became infatuated with her or purely as a business move, Zheng Yi made a proposal of marriage to Shi Xianggu to consolidate the powers of intrigue, as it were, which she is said to have agreed to by formal contract granting her a 50% control and share. Shi Xianggu was known as "Zheng Yi Sao" (simplified Chinese: 郑一嫂; traditional Chinese: 鄭一嫂; pinyin: zhèng yī sǎo; lit. 'wife of Zheng Yi'. They adopted Cheung Po as their step-son, making him Zheng's legal heir. She also bore him two sons; Zheng Ying Shi (simplified Chinese: 郑英石; traditional Chinese: 鄭英石; pinyin: zhèng yīng shí) and Zheng Xiong Shi (simplified Chinese: 郑雄石; traditional Chinese: 鄭雄石; pinyin: Zhèng xióng shí).
Zheng Yi used military assertion and his reputation to consolidate a coalition of competing Cantonese pirate fleets of uncertain numbers into an alliance. By 1804, this coalition was a formidable force, and one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of China. They were known as the Red Flag Fleet.
The pirate coalition besieged Macau for several weeks in 1804. In September 1805, a Chinese attack consisting of 80 gunboats in Guangzhou Bay captured or destroyed only 26 pirate vessels. The general who had led the attack subsequently offered pardons to those who surrendered; perhaps 3000 accepted this offer before it was withdrawn in December 1805.[3]
By 1806, virtually every Chinese vessel along the coast paid the pirates for ostensible protection.[3]
Death
Zheng Yi died suddenly in Nguyễn Vietnam on 16 November 1807, sources varied on whether he died in a typhoon, falling overboard in an accident, or if he was killed by his wife, or his new heir. Soon after his death, his widow Ching Shih (simplified Chinese: 郑氏; traditional Chinese: 鄭氏; pinyin: Zhèng Shì; meaning "widow of Zheng") acted quickly to solidify the partnership with her step-son Cheung Po Tsai. The two soon became intimate. Their first success came when they are able to secure the loyalty of Zheng's relatives. Cheung Po Tsai, would act as Ching Shih's second-in-command of the Red Flag Fleet.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Dian H. Murray 1987, p.64.:Murray, Dian H. (1987). Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790-1810. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1376-6.
- ^ URVIJA BANERJI (6 April 2016). "The Chinese Female Pirate Who Commanded 80,000 Outlaws". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- ^ a b Rogozinski, Jan (1999). Dictionary of Pirates. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. p. 71. ISBN 1-85326-384-2.
- ^ "Cheung Po Tsai and Ching Shih, Pirate Monarchs". 22 February 2016.
- v
- t
- e
- Albanian piracy
- Anglo-Turkish piracy
- Baltic Slavic pirates
- Barbary pirates (corsairs)
- Brethren of the Coast
- Buccaneers
- Cilician pirates
- Child pirate
- Cossack pirates
- Filibusters
- French corsairs
- Jewish pirates
- Moro pirates
- Narentines
- Privateers
- River pirate
- Sea Beggars
- Sea Dogs
- Sindhi corsairs
- Timber pirate
- Ushkuyniks
- Uskoks
- Vikings
- Victual Brothers
- Wokou
- Women in piracy
Atlantic World | |
---|---|
Indian Ocean | |
Other waters | |
Pirate havens and bases |
- Adventure Galley
- Ambrose Light
- Fancy
- Flying Dutchman
- Ganj-i-Sawai
- Queen Anne's Revenge
- Quedagh Merchant
- Marquis of Havana
- My Revenge
- Royal Fortune
- Saladin
- Whydah Gally
- York
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Pirate_Flag.svg/100px-Pirate_Flag.svg.png)
- 1582 Cagayan battles
- 1985 Lahad Datu ambush
- Action of 9 November 1822
- Action of 28 October 2007
- Action of 11 November 2008
- Action of 9 April 2009
- Action of 23 March 2010
- Action of 1 April 2010
- Action of 5 April 2010
- Anti-piracy in the Aegean
- Antelope incident
- Anti-piracy in the West Indies
- Attack on Veracruz
- Balanguingui Expedition
- Battle of Boca Teacapan
- Battle of Cape Fear River
- Battle of Cape Lopez
- Battle of Doro Passage
- Battle of Mandab Strait
- Battle of Manila
- Battle off Minicoy Island
- Battle off Mukah
- Battle of Nam Quan
- Battle of New Orleans
- Battle of Ocracoke Inlet
- Battle of Pianosa
- Battle of the Leotung
- Battle of the Tiger's Mouth
- Battle of Tonkin River
- Battle of Ty-ho Bay
- Battle of Tysami
- Beluga Nomination incident
- Blockade of Charleston (Vane)
- Chepo Expedition
- Capture of the Ambrose Light
- Capture of John "Calico Jack" Rackham
- Capture of the schooner Bravo
- Capture of the schooner Fancy
- Capture of the sloop Anne
- Carré d'As IV incident
- Dai Hong Dan incident
- Falklands Expedition
- Great Lakes Patrol
- Irene incident
- Jiajing wokou raids
- Maersk Alabama hijacking
- MT Zafirah hijacking
- MT Orkim Harmony hijacking
- MV Moscow University hijacking
- North Star affair
- Operation Enduring Freedom – HOA
- Operation Atalanta
- Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden
- Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden
- Operation Ocean Shield
- Persian Gulf Campaign
- Pirate attacks in Borneo
- Quest incident
- Raid on Cartagena
- Sack of Baltimore
- Sack of Campeche
- Salvador Pirates
- Slave raid of Suðuroy
- Turkish Abductions
- African slave trade
- African Slave Trade Patrol
- Amistad Incident
- Atlantic slave trade
- Barbary slave trade
- Blockade of Africa
- Capture of the Veloz Passagera
- Capture of the brig Brillante
- Indian Ocean slave trade
- Trans-Saharan slave trade
popular
culture
Fictional pirates |
|
---|---|
Novels |
|
Tropes | |
Miscellaneous |
Lists | |
---|---|
Categories |
|
Piracy portal
Category